Chilling News Letter headline signals the start of Cholera epidemic (January 1832)

The article chronicled the march of the disease to Haddington near Edinburgh where there had been a number of deaths.

The first reports of the “Asiatic Cholera” had appeared from the frontiers of Russia in 1830; by May 1831 the disease had reached Riga and Danzig and that October was reported at Sunderland.

The first death in Belfast was reported on February 29, 1832 when a cooper from Quay Lane, Bernard Murtagh was said to have succumbed within 19 hours of contracting the fever.

On January 10 the News Letter reported a vestry meeting in Dromore at which five health officials were elected to take control of the situation.

They were charged with responsibility for enforcing cleanliness and health regulations throughout the area.

In Belfast the News Letter on February 3 reported that the board of health had published a circular listing precautions against the contagion.

The town had been divided into six districts with each being controlled by two members of the board and a number of visitors.

The circular said the visitors were expected to examine all streets, courts and lanes and list those requiring to be cleansed, paved, grated or ventilated. The sewers were to be closely scrutinised.

The houses of the poor had also to be visited by the officials who were required to observe whether the floor was damp or dry, if it needed whitewashing, good straw or better ventilation.

“Wherever fresh straw shall have been furnished, the visitors are requested to take care that the old straw be burned,” advised the circular.

If a contagious disease was reported in the house the visitors did not have to enter.

The visitors were also empowered to obtain the names of landlords of property of the poor deemed to be in a bad condition. They were then required to “impress upon them the humanity and justice of putting the tenements into a state of comfortable repair”.

The visitors were also required to impress upon the poor the importance of “every exertion to guard against the introduction of contagious diseases. They will impress upon them the importance of keeping their floors dry and clean, of having their windows frequently and freely open, of clearing away all accumulations of rubbish from beneath their beds and especially direct their attention to personal cleanliness”.

The laws on quarantine were rigorously enforced throughout the United Kingdom as the various health authorities endeavoured to check the march of the disease.

The epidemic peaked in Belfast in June - upwards of 1,200 patients were admitted to the hospital over a period of 18 months.

The scale of the epidemic imposed severe strains on medical services particularly on accommodation which led to the construction of a special building for Cholera victims near the fever hospital.

A large building at Lancaster Street was also rented for isolation purposes. Two houses were used in different parts of the town for dispensing medicines and as ambulance stations to ensure victims were removed quickly to hospital.

The disease subsided in December enabling the board of health to close the cholera hospital.

It re-appeared the following October largely because it had continued to cause problems in rural districts.

The record of the epidemic shows that 2,870 persons had been infected out of a Belfast population of 54,000. The mortality rate was one in six.

During the epidemic the pupils of the Belfast Academical Institution played a part in the campaign against the disease.